Business Groups Urge Senate to Pass Permitting Reform Legislation

Following the House of Representatives’ passage of a permitting process reform bill at the end of 2025, FEDA has joined a coalition of business advocacy groups in urging the Senate to take action and send the legislation to President Donald Trump’s desk.

The Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act (H.R. 4776) would change the process agencies must undertake under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to comply with the unanimous Supreme Court decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County. In that case, justices held that courts should generally defer to agency decisions on the level of detail and scope of impact for a NEPA review, and that such reviews should be limited to the effects of the project being evaluated without consideration for upstream and downstream processes.

The SPEED Act would streamline the NEPA review process by prohibiting agencies from rescinding, withdrawing, altering, or amending a completed environmental document. Further, government agencies would not be allowed to revoke, rescind, or alter federal authorizations (such as permits, leases, licenses, or rights-of-way authorizations) unless there is a court order, law violation, fraud, or a determination that action is needed to prevent a specific and immediate harm.

The House passed the SPEED Act on Dec. 18, 2025, with a 221-196 vote. The Senate has received the bill and assigned it to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

In a new letter, business groups are asking senators to build on the House’s momentum by passing the bill as early as possible. “Communities across America are counting on Congress to deliver a modernized, efficient, predictable, and transparent permitting process — one that provides the project certainty needed to secure investment today, unlock economic growth, and foster innovation that creates opportunity and a stronger future for families and neighborhoods,” the letter states.

The full letter is available here.